Monday, June 23, 2008

Though I have a lot of experience as a photographer, I don't have a lot of experience as a journalist, particularly in a daily newspaper setting. The coolest thing about this summer so far is meeting different people with really cool stories. I like the challenge of trying to show their stories and their "coolness" - or, more clearly said, the "so what" factor - when doing my job. This guy, Max, is a lawyer and a quadriplegic who gets around town on his own, but, because of the poor construction and upkeep of many sidewalks, is forced to use the streets in his travels. "I am forced out of necessity, not convenience, to do this," he said. Watching him do his regular routines on one of the busiest streets in town really freaked me out and showed me what his daily life is like. Max would rather navigate through traffic than risk toppling his wheelchair over on the steep sidewalk cuts, narrow sidewalks and poorly groomed curbs. I was so moved by what he has to go through that I don't think I did an exceptionally good job photographing it, but I still hope that my photos and the story being written will help spur some change to make things safer for Max.

I shot a story last week about a media recycling program and they had massive piles of outdated technology and storage devices around the workspace just waiting to be obliterated in the granulator and resold to manufacturers who recycle plastic.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Last weekend, I took a long but cheap bus ride up to Chicago to see it for the first time and to see my good friend Jodie for the first time in a year. I am a big fan of the Windy City and could definitely see myself living there. It helped a lot that the weather was absolutely perfect.

We roamed around a street fair both of the days I was there and, genius photographer that I am, did not have my camera with me for the more entertaining day of the two. Worst case scenario, I chuck it all and dance my cares away:

Thursday, June 19, 2008

I photographed the medical examiner for Boone and Callaway counties for VOX magazine and came up with some pretty cool photos. Dr. Adelstein is a cool guy with a warped but entertaining sense of humor (which, really, is to be expected after 18 years in the biz.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I never got to post shots from my best rehearsal with the choir because of the looming final project deadline. They had a really emotional practice the last time I stayed for the full time and some of my favorite shots from the whole project came from that day. Regrettably, I admit that I shied away from what could have been some really stellar shots because I was a bit uncomfortable staring that much raw emotion right back in the face. But I'm working on it.

This first one especially embodies - to me, at least - what gospel choir really feels like...

Thursday, June 5, 2008

I am back in action (after a much-needed bout of inaction) both as a photographer and as a blogger. This summer, I am taking a few classes at Mizzou, including Staff Photojournalism, where I work as a staffer at the Columbia Missourian (www.columbiamissourian.com). It's probably the most perfect time for me to take the (required) class because there are absolutely no official athletic events going on, so I will be forced to shoot features and portraits and news. Below is a pile of my first two weeks' photo highlights. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 28

First day on the job and we have spot news - I am quite the lucky photographer, especially because spot news doesn't really happen in this quaint town. There was a bank robbery nearby, which I covered by bike (more detail on that fun can be found at fotofobe.blogspot.com).

The suspect ditched a bag of cash and a hat with hair attached in a bush close to the bank and was apprehended a few blocks from the bank. The suspect, who was from Florida, was not terribly smart, as the suspect robbed a bank approximately 6 blocks away from the city's police station.

It was a big day for the Columbia Police Department and nearly everyone seemed to show up at some point in the robbery's timeline. I am used to Boston cops and was fairly timid in my photography (plus, I was dragging my bike around with me) - I thought this photo went well with my fear of authority figures.

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Thursday, May 29

I enterprised both Wednesday and Thursday, but I don't have the Wednesday photos with me yet. Thursday, I was supposed to photograph some retirees playing Wii Bowling, but the event was cancelled due to lack of participation. I rode my bike around Stephen's Lake for a bit and found these kids fishing with their grandfather. I spent about an hour with them (regrettably, without sunscreen - the farmer's tan is in full effect on this photographer) and got some cool shots. I was chatting with the grandfather and we decided that our activities - fishing and photographer - were remarkably similar. Both required extreme patience, some strategy, a bit of luck and the award-winners were few and far between.

(Vignettes seemed appropriate, because the whole situation reminded me of moments in my own childhood.)

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Saturday, May 31

We're required to work two Saturdays over the course of the summer and I signed up for the first one so I could get one out of the way right off the bat. It was a long day - the rummage sale started at 6 a.m. and we were on-scene at 5:30 a.m. In the future, I need to do a better job of pretending to be awake and alert so I can get some better shots. I got a bit of a break until the carnival, but almost missed it. I was kind of dragging my feet in going (it was a day-long thing) until my obsession with local doppler radar pointed out that the event was about to fall victim to an intense thunderstorm. The carnival was only one block over and I shot for about 10 minutes before the fat raindrops started to fall. Later that evening, I shot a high school graduation, which proved surprisingly frustrating because I had to stay up high with the parents. I really liked the first shot here, with the two "tardy" boys running in to line up, but we couldn't run it because (1) the guy on the left is looking right at me and giving me a thumbs-up and (2) none of the teachers I found knew either of their names (it was a class of 551, so...that's understood). But that's why we have blogs these days! Also, several episodes of graduate volleyball broke out - I got an okay shot of that.

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Wednesday, June 4

Yesterday was a very typical day in the newspaper world. I covered the "State of the City" address, which was painfully boring and visually gross (TV cameras blocking everything, TV lighting casting shadows, etc), so I had to be creative and ultimately, had to keep myself entertained for the duration of the speech. The upshot, however, is that the media crowd in Columbia, Missouri, is significantly smaller than that of Boston, Massachusetts. Go figure. After that, I went to Stephen's College to do a portrait of the president, Wendy Libby. She was nice and easy to chat with and, it turns out, a fellow New Englander (Brooklyn, NY). I liked these two shots because they are fun and we were laughing about personal neuroses (she arranges the clothing in her closet by hue, I line up books on my shelves in descending (left to right) height.

Behind the camera

Bostonian by heart and Iowan by blood, but giving the south a try in Dallas, Texas. Graduate of Boston University's photojournalism program (COM '06) and a recently minted Master through the University of Missouri's photojournalism program.

All images, projects, video and text on this blog were created by Phoebe Sexton unless otherwise noted. All work is copyrighted and may not be used without written permission. Stealing is bad karma, y'all.

Contact Phoebe at phoebe[dot]sexton[at]gmail[dot]com for more information.